The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogğan, has promised new military operations against Kurdish militants along the country’s border in Syria and Iraq as he presented his election manifesto.

Speaking in front of thousands of supporters in Istanbul on Sunday, Erdoğan described next month’s snap presidential and parliamentary polls as a “milestone” for a strong Turkey. The country would “take the stage as a global power”, he vowed.

Erdoğan has called elections for 24 June, more than a year earlier than planned – a move analysts say is partly aimed at capitalising on nationalist sentiment running high after a successful campaign to oust Syrian Kurdish militia from the border enclave of Afrin.

“In the new term, Turkey will add new operations to the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations,” Erdoğan said, in reference to a 2016 cross-border offensive in Syria and to the Afrin assault. “The operations will continue until not one terrorist is left.”

The elections are hugely important as they will transform Turkey’s governing system into an executive presidency, a constitutional change that was narrowly approved in a referendum last year. As part of the changes, the office of the prime minister will be abolished and its powers transferred largely to the president.

An alliance of opposition parties argue that the new system will lead to one-man rule and have vowed to return Turkey to a parliamentary system with strong checks and balances.

Aiming to ease fears over the economy, Erdoğan promised lower interest rates and inflation and to reduce the current account deficit. “The Turkish economy will be more resistant to outer shocks and financial blows. Turkey will be even more attractive to investors,” the president said.

He said Turkey had never abandoned its goal of European Union membership.

Meanwhile, Muharrem İnce, the presidential hopeful nominated by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s party to run against Erdoğan, threatened to hold campaign events in front of television stations to protest against the scarce media coverage of his initial election rally.

With Turkey’s media largely controlled by the government or owned by businesses close to Erdoğan, opposition parties have complained of an uneven playing field.

İnce, a 54-year-old former physics teacher known for his combative rhetoric, tweeted: “We will come to power by battling this media system. If this embargo on the opposition ordered by (Erdoğan’s) palace continues, we will hold our meetings in front of the television stations.”